After taking flak back home all week for voting Monday in favor of the controversial economic bailout bill, Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) is the first Member to release a TV ad explaining why he voted the way he did.

Marshall is in a tough re-election battle this fall against highly touted Republican nominee retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Rick Goddard. The bailout bill has largely been viewed as unpopular in conservative rural areas like Georgia’s 8th district, and this week Goddard called Marshall’s vote for the $700 billion bill “reckless.”

Speaking to the camera in his new ad, Marshall tells viewers that billionaire investor Warren Buffett called the financial crisis the worst in the nation’s history.

“I don’t like this rescue plan any better than you do. And I’m not interested in bailing out the irresponsible people who dragged us into this credit mess,” he says. “But I’m not going to stand by and let this crisis undermine our economy and damage the financial future of everyone in America — their jobs, their savings, their dreams.”

Marshall adds that he approves the commercial “because you elected me to do what’s best for America, not what’s easy.”

On Wednesday, Goddard released a statement blaming Marshall for contributing to a lack of Congressional oversight that brought about the current financial crisis.

“Jim Marshall ignored the warnings, did nothing and now votes to bailout Wall Street with $700 billion from Main Street,” Goddard said in a release. “Taxpayers did not get us into this mess and they should not be the ones to shoulder the load by recklessly passing a bill that by my opponent’s own admission was bad.”